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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Sheryl and I just returned from a special ministry trip up north to care for some leaders and dear friends in crisis. Many of you were praying and God presence was so strong in our times together.

We can share about one visit. Lanny LeDoux is our longest term ministry partner and has faithfully prayed with great wisdom and authority. Lanny was a classmate of Ray Mayhew at Bethany and about a month ago was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Barring a Divine Healing he may have as little as a year to live.

We are committed to stand with Lanny and Mary as they have stood with us. We joined with several of his close friends to share and pray in this first session and hope to meed again at the end of April.

Sheryl has been encouraging me to separate our ministry updates from my cultural commentaries and causes. But being classic ADD, I don't easily separate these things. I would rather write about what is affecting our culture and what God is saying and doing during these challenging days than write a support update...even if it means at times writing more about what others are doing.

The Kingdom of God is far bigger than what any one church, ministry or person is doing and when we pray and bless others God doesn't forget our needs. Pray for one another so you may be healed. "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16

I am convinced God has prepared Sheryl and me for a role in helping prepare believers for the challenging days ahead...and while I am working on a blog to speak into those things, it is a ways off, so for now our ministry update still serves both purposes.

Thank You for your prayers and partnership in serving the Lord Jesus.

This morning I responded to some items in the Omaha news with a letter to the editor of the Omaha World Herald. I don't know if they will use it but am including it below.

These are three overnight headlines from just one TV station this morning in Omaha regarding DUI related crashes. Am I the only one feeling that DUI related incidents have increased significantly the last few years? When I was younger there was a saying "Nothing good happens after midnight." Now it is mostly after 2:00 AM ever since Omaha gave the bars another hour a few years ago.

I found an interesting 2010 OWH news article: Update: Mayor Supports Extending Bar Closing Time To 2am The reasoning, to quote then Mayor Suttle: "This is an opportunity for our city to stay competitive with other metropolitan areas and puts Omaha on similar footing as cities such as Denver, Colorado, that have a 2am last call,”

The article goes on to say that "All the states that border Nebraska let bars stay open until 2 a.m. Those in favor of a later closing time say we're losing money to our neighbors across the bridge."

In another quote Mayor Suttle said, “This proposed ordinance makes our community more competitive in attracting events that bring people to our city, which grows our local economy. This change is an opportunity for our city that we should not let pass us by.”

Do these arguments sound familiar...just like the current ones with Nebraska legalizing gambling and marijuana?

And you can get good info regarding the current battle regarding gambling from my good friend Pat Loontjer with Gambling With The Good LIfe

So has anyone done a study on the increase in DUI related costs in property, income, human life and for families since changing the bar closing times?

So now we not only give drinkers another hour any night of the week to get completely plastered before getting behind the wheel...hoping they get safely home to families harmed by their drinking... we are actually considering letting them do so while legally high and after losing family income at casinos... just so our city and state can get a bigger percentage of the cut...